By Doha Madani and Annie Rose Ramos with NBC News World News&bullet;
last updated:
19/12/2018

Two men and a woman were detained Wednesdayin connection with the murder of two migrant teenagers during an attempted robbery in Tijuana, Mexico, authorities said.

Those arrested, identified as Esmeralda N., Carlos N., and Francisco Javier N., were wanted for the alleged abduction and murder of two Honduran boys, ages 16 and 17, on Saturday, according to a statement from Baja California state prosecutors in Mexico.

Authorities believe the two boys and a third male teen had left a children's migrant shelter in the city and were on their way downtown to another shelter when they were intercepted by criminals intending to rob them, according a statement from Tijuana Deputy Attorney General Jorge Alberto Albarez Mendoza.

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One of the boys escaped. The bodies of the other two were found in an alley, bearing knife wounds and indications they were strangled, the attorney general's statement said.

The Honduran government confirmed in a statement that it had been informed by Mexican authorities that the deceased teens were from Honduras and said it was working to have their bodies returned home.